Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-14
MISSION INDIANS.
Hon. j. Shirley Wards Final ne-
port ON Them.

port OF hon. j. Snlrley Waru, eX'
agent of the government, to the Mis-
sion Indians Of South California. The
comments of Mr.. Ward are timely and
to the point:
UNITED STATES INDIAN SERvIcE,(
MISSION AGENCY.
CoLToN, Cal, August II, 1887.
Hon. j. ID. c. Atkins, Commissioner o.
Indian Afairs:
SIR have the honor to submit my
second, and last annual report of the
operations of this agency for the yeal
ending June 30, 1887.
This has been a year of expectancy
on the part of the Indians. Govern
ment officials and outside enthusiasts
have bespangled the Indians sky
with cabalistic signs of the coming
jubilee. and the consummation of the
Land in Severalty Bill' has beer
promised as the key note in the granc
chorus of emancipation from the
thraldom OF the white man.
THE LAND QUESTION.
There are nearly 100000 acres o
land embraced in the reservations sci
aside for the Mission Indians. There
are not 500 acres of this vast domain
on which decent living can be made
without irrigation. Very few white
men would attempt such a problem
The question of irrigation enters into
every land transaction in Southern
California, and to chain an Indian
down on quarter section of land,
without facilities for irrigation, would
be reproduction of Prometheus, with
the vultures of want and despair feed
ing on his vitals. Without something
more is done for these Indians, than
is proposed by the Severalty Bill,
wherein is their condition improved
Although there have been many
trespassers on their lands, yet
there is not single in
dustrious indian who has not
been able to get more land than he
could cultivate. If the Indian has
failed to cultivate the unoccupied
lands within his reach, will the mere
TACT of personal ownership of these
lands, without the right of alienation
for twenty-five years, cause him to
enlarge his farming operations and
emulate the white man in his efforts
to accumulate property? We think
not. Twenty-Five years of tutelage ;
twenty-five pears of almost military
discipline, may bring him up to po-
sition of self-support as a farmer, but
without this coercive power. he will
make but little advance in the
march of civilization.
Clothe the Indian with the insignia
of citizenship, and invest him with
title to land, in fee simple, and still
it does not make him man, without
he has been taught the arts of indus
try and has solved the problem OF self
support.
This transition period, from the
lounging, lettering, lazy, lousey Son of
the Forest, to the full stature of self
supporting citizenship, is one which
demands the highest order of practi-
cal craftsmanship for its solution.
Has the Government the authority
to require the adult Indian to learn,
under practical teacher, all the de-
tails connected with the usual indus
tries of the age? Can the Indian be
forced to an apprenticeship on the
farm or in the shop in order to make
him self supporting and qualify him
for the battle of life?
WORK: THE CORNER STONE OF CIvILI-
zATIoN.
The Government has done a great
deal toward the intellectual advance
ment of the Indian. Where it has
had industrial schools, it has probably
advanced the Indian children in a
knowledge of the practical
ways by which they are to
make their living Here els the Mis-
sion Agency, having no industrial
schools, our education has been di-
rected to the head alone. The Civil
Service Examiners would be de-
lighted to see the samples of penman-
ship and ciphering which could be
shown by the schools of this Agency.
Still, these children have not one
practical idea as to how to make liv-
ing. A civilization which has no
work in it will not meet the require
ments of the age.
A knowledge OF how to work, ca
pacity to work and something to work
with, are the foundation-stones of all
civilization.
The adult Indian, generally, does
not know how to work, and does not
wish to learn.
Will the Government push its power
of wardship far en- Sugh to compel him
to learn some practical industry, by
which he can be self-sustaining?
Lands in severalty, pensions, an.
nuities and elaborate school apparatus
will not redeem the Indian. He must
be taught to work, by persuasion, il
possible by force, if necessary. | heal
righteous howl from some we'll
meaning, but impractical ehthu.
siast, saying this would be "an
abridgement of mans personal lib
erty." The pilgrimage through the
desert was necessary preparation to
those who were to enter the Land ol
Promise.
SELF-RELIANCE.
The annuities of, money, clothing
and agricultural supplies furnished by
the Government to the Indians have
smothered out nearly every particle oi
native se.f-reliance among them.
They are content to lie in the shade
and wait for the annual appropriation.
Pensions and annuities will never de-
velop a high order Of manhood
in any race of people. If the
rain Of mamma and quail had con-
tinued, no Hebrew would have ever
owned a poultry or grain farm. i1@
IRRIGATION OF INDIAN LANDS.
There are enough lands in the diff
ferent reservations for the Mission
InGians, if brought under a wise sys-
tenn of irrigation, to give five or ten
acre home to each family Ten acres
with water, if we'll cultivated, will
produce more of the necessities OF
life, in this country, than 16O without
irrigation.
To make the water supply on these
lands available will require large ex.
penditure of money by the govern.
ment.l The Indians will never do il
alone. Most of the Indians here were
born tired and have never gotten ovel